


The Lost Hero

by DancerWinner_RAYLLUM4EVER



Series: The Heroes of Olympus - An Exchange of Leaders [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Multi, Role-swap AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26176198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancerWinner_RAYLLUM4EVER/pseuds/DancerWinner_RAYLLUM4EVER
Summary: "What's up with this dude?" Leo asked. "He acts like we just insulted his girlfriend."Butch hesitated. "Percy's okay. You've gotta cut him some slack. He's been looking for one of our campers for three days, and he really hoped she'd be here.""Who is it?" Reyna inquired."His girlfriend, actually. A half-blood named Annabeth Chase."
Series: The Heroes of Olympus - An Exchange of Leaders [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1900912
Comments: 12
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter One - Reyna

Even before almost getting knocked out of the sky, Reyna wasn't having the best day of her life. That didn't bode well, since it was the only day of her life that she could remember

She woke up in the back of a school bus, not sure where she was. A few dozen kids sprawled in the seats in front of her, listening to iPods, talking, or sleeping. They all looked around her age... fifteen? Sixteen? Why didn't she know her own age?

Two kids in front of her were having a conversation. "'I'm Dylan.'" One kid mocked. "'I'm so cool, I want to date myself, but I can't figure out how! You wanna date me instead? You're so lucky!'"

The other kid sighed. "You're not entirely wrong, I guess."

"Man, I kinda feel sorry for you."

"Kinda?"

"Hey, at least you didn't get partnered with Isabel, or..."

The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out the windows, desert rolled by under a bright blue sky. Reyna wasn't entirely sure, but she didn't think she lived in a desert. She tried to think of the last thing she remembered, and came up with a blank. Just her name, Reyna. That was it, no last name or anything.

"All right, cupcakes, listen up!" A teacher shouted from the front,obviously a coach. He would've looked kind of intimidating, with a baseball cap pulled over his hair, a wispy goatee paired with a sour expression, and bright orange polo shirt. His height kind of ruined it, as he couldn't have been any taller than five feet. When he stood up to address the students, one impertinent kid called, "Stand up, Coach Hedge!"

"I heard that!" The teacher, Coach Hedge, scanned the bus for who'd spoken out. His eyes landed on Reyna, and his scowl deepened.

A jolt went down Reyna's spine. Somehow, he knew.

Reyna wasn't supposed to be here.

Coach Hedge didn't call her out. He just cleared his throat and continued. "We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes causes any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way." He picked up a baseball bat and made like he was hitting a homer.

The bus dropped them in front of a big red stucco complex like a museum.

"Hey, Reyna." Reyna turned around to see one kid approach her. He looked like a Latino elf, and had a smile that immediately told you he shouldn't be trusted with sharp or flammable objects. He was also either on way to much caffeine or just hyper, because his hands just wouldn't stop moving. He was constantly fiddling with the buttons of his jacket, or sweeping his hair behind his ears, or messing with a bunch of nuts, bolts, and pipe cleaners in his hands. It looked like he was assembling something, though Reyna couldn't tell what.

"Who are you?" Reyna asked him cautiously.

The boy looked offended. "Well, okay then. If that's how-"

"I'm serious."

"Um, what?" They boy spread his hands with the question, each holding a few random parts of whatever he was making. "I'm Leo. We were partnered for the worksheet, which by the way, I hope you have yours, 'cause I kinda used mine for..."

Reyna frowned. She had no recollection of getting partnered to work on anything, much less with this kid.

The group walked through the museum, stopping here and there for Coach Hedge to lecture them with his megaphone. For some reason, it kept making his voice sound like it was going through a voice changer, or blare out random comments like "The cow says moo." The way Leo laughed whenever it happened, Reyna suspected he had something to do with that.

Reyna was more focused on trying to figure out what was going on than the exhibits, which were mostly about the Grand Canyon (which gave her idea of where she was), and the Hualapai tribe, which apparently owned the museum.

A couple girls laughed when they learned that. "Hey, Piper," one of them said. "Does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?"

"My dad's Cherokee." Someone, who must've been Piper, responded. She had chocolate brown hair that was cut choppy and uneven, and wore a fleece snowboarding jacket. "Not Hualapai. 'Course, you'd need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel.

The girl who'd started this, Isabel, widened her eyes in mock surprise. She didn't pull it off well, with her heavy makeup. "Oh, sorry! Was your  _ mom _ in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew your mom."

Piper charged her, but before a fight could start, Coach Hedge barked, "Enough back there! Set a good example or I'll break out my baseball bat!"

The group continued through the museum, but the girls continued making little comments at Piper, mainly about her parentage.

Reyna immediately decided she disliked them.

Soon they reached the far end of the exhibit hall, where big glass doors led out to a terrace.

"All right, cupcakes," Coach Hedge announced. "You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it."

_ Break the Grand Canyon? Seriously? _

"The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge as that would cause me extra paperwork." He opened the doors, letting the class step outside.

"Man, that's pretty wicked." Leo said.

Reyna had to agree. The Grand Canyon spread before them, and extending over the edge was an impressive glass walkway. Large storm clouds had spread across the sky, casting shadows across the canyon. Yet she couldn't appreciate the amazing view in front of her. Something was incredibly wrong. Reyna didn't know how, she just felt it. Even when they went onto the skywalk and got a better look, or started on the worksheet (which Reyna didn't have the answers to), she couldn't shake the sense of foreboding.

Reyna's attention was diverted when Leo launched a pipe-cleaner helicopter over the edge, which actually made it about halfway out before plummeting into the canyon below.

"Impressive." Reyna admitted.

Leo shrugged. "Would've been cooler if I had some rubber bands."

"How did you do that?"

"How did I make something so awesome? It's just a special talent."

A cold wind blew across the skywalk, and Reyna shivered. Her purple T-shirt and jeans definitely weren't warm enough for this. She looked up at the storm clouds overhead. Had they gotten darker?

"What is this?" Reyna asked suddenly.

Leo reasonably didn't understand her question. "Um, this is the Grand Canyon? Did you not catch that?"

"No, the group." To accentuate her point, Reyna gestured towards the other students. "Where'd we come from?"

"The Wilderness School..." Leo answered hesitantly.

"And what's that?"

"Seriously? The Wilderness School, a lovely prison- I mean  _ boarding school  _ in Armpit, Nevada?" When Reyna didn't respond, he continued. "A school for 'bad kids'? Where we learn valuable nature skills like running ten miles a day through the cacti and weaving daisies into hats and such? Ring a bell?"

Reyna shook her head. "I don't remember any of that." she admitted. The entire thing felt wrong. Though she didn't have any memories to prove it, she felt- no, she  _ knew _ \- she didn't go to this school. She shouldn't be here.

"What are you talking about?" Leo interrupted her thoughts. "You hit your head or something?"

Reyna shook her head. He didn't seem to realize anything was wrong. Actually, Reyna realized that no one did. Nobody looked at her like she was a stranger to them, which she felt she was. Leo had even known her name, though she was sure she'd never told him. No one thought she was out of place here.

No one, except Coach Hedge.

Reyna gave Leo the worksheet. "I'll be right back." Then she headed towards the other side of the skywalk.

The Wilderness School students had spread out in pairs. Most were talking or joking around or tossing things over the side. Reyna recognized the girl named Piper trying to fill out her worksheet, but whomever she was partnered with wasn't making it easy for her. The dude kept hitting on her, despite how much she pushed him away. Coach Hedge was leaning on his baseball bat, studying the storm clouds.

"Did you do this?" the coach asked when Reyna approached.

Reyna blinked in surprise. "Excuse me?"

Coach Hedge glared at her. "Don't play games with me, kid. What are you doing here, and why are you messing up my job?"

She didn't know what the coach meant by 'messing up his job'. "You don't know who I am..." Reyna realized.

The coach snorted. "Never seen you before today.

"So I've never been here before." Reyna confirmed.

"Last I checked. You've got a way with the Mist, I'll give you that."

"The Mist? Look, I'm not aware of why I'm here either."  _ But I'm not supposed to be. _

Coach Hedge glared at her from under his baseball cap. "You're being truthful."

"I am." Reyna assured him.

"Well then, who are you?"

"I..." Reyna hesitated. Should she trust this guy? He  _ did _ recognize that she wasn't there before today. Her instincts told her to trust him. "I don't know that either."

Hedge grunted. "Well isn't that just great." He lowered his voice, like he was sharing a secret. "You smell like a half-blood. I got a message from Camp recently, they said an extraction team was coming soon to pick up a 'special package'. They wouldn't give me the details. I figured it was the other two I'm looking after, since they're powerful and older than most, and I know they're being stalked, I've been smelling monster for days. But then  _ you _ pop up out of nowhere. So, are you the special package?"

Okay, Reyna had no idea what the coach was talking about. She got a sudden pain, behind her eyes at some of the words he said.  _ Mist. Half-blood. Camp. Monster. _ It wasn't there, but she felt like it was supposed to be. The information should've been there, but it was as if the knowledge to answer his question was hidden away- or lost.

Reyna gripped the side of the skywalk to steady herself. "I- I told you, I don't know."

Lightning crackled overhead, and the wind began to pick up. Her hair, which was in a braid, flew behind her in the gale, occasionally whacking her shoulder blades. Papers flew away, and the entire bridge shuddered. Kids stumbled and screamed, looking for support from the railing or each other.

"This isn't good." The coach brought out his megaphone. "Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!" he called to the students.

"Isn't this supposed to be stable?" Reyna had to shout to be heard over the wind.

"Under normal circumstances, which these aren't. Come on!"

The storm continued to pick up while the kids ran for the building. Funnel clouds formed and headed for the skywalk like the tendrils of a large jellyfish. Some slid across the smooth glass floor, propelled by the storm which had evolved into a small hurricane. Leo nearly toppled over the railing before someone hurried over and grabbed his jacket.

"Go, go, go!" Hedge shouted.

Over at the museum, Piper and her previously flirtatious partner were holding open the glass doors. Piper, much to her credit, stayed calm and was able to get several students inside.

Soon Reyna and Coach Hedge were hurrying inside, but it was difficult to gain any ground. Reyna relied heavily on the railing to not get pushed off the skywalk completely. It was as if the wind was actively working against them.

Two kids hurried in front of them, almost entering the building. The guy holding one door pushed one of them back, then both of them lost their grip and the doors shut hard, trapping them outside.

"Dylan!" Piper shouted. She began tugging on the handles, trying to pry the doors back open.

"Whoops." Dylan just stood there wit an idiotic grin, seemingly unaffected by the storm.

The boy he'd pushed back, who Reyna recognized as Leo, got up and started trying to help Piper open the doors. They stayed shut tight.

Dylan flicked his wrist, and both kids flew towards the skywalk deck.

Reyna tried to go help them, and the wind seemed to push harder.

"I should've known that was our monster!" Hedge shouted. "You, girl! Go help the others! I'll take care of him."

"What?" Leo demanded. A loose worksheet slapped him in the face, but he swatted it away. "What monster?"

The coach's baseball cap then flew off, and sticking above his curly hair were- were those two bumps  _ horns _ ? He then lifted his bat, which had somehow changed into a crudely shaped tree-branch club, several twigs and leaves still attached.

Dylan's smile didn't waver. "Oh, come on,  _ Coach _ . You're getting too old for this. Isn't that why they  _ retired _ you to this stupid school? I've been on your team the entire season, and you didn't even know. You're losing our nose, grandpa."

The coach made a sound that resembled something like an angry bleating animal. "That's it, cupcake. You're going down."

"You think you can protect three half-bloods at one, old man? Good luck." Dylan mocked. He pointed at Leo, and a funnel cloud enveloped him. He flew off the skywalk like someone had thrown him. Somehow he managed to twist in midair, and slammed right into the side of the canyon. He skidded for a while before managing to grab a thin ledge, far below the skywalk, looking like he'd lost his grip any moment.

"Help!" he shouted. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?"

Coach Hedge cursed and tossed Reyna his club. "I don't know who you are, kid, but I hope you're good. Keep that  _ thing _ busy"- he indicated Dylan- "While I get Leo."

"What?  _ How _ ?" Reyna demanded, uncertainly gripping the club.

Hedge didn't respond, just kicked off his shoes. Reyna almost couldn't believe what her eyes told her. In place of regular feet, the guy had  _ hooves _ !

_ A faun! _ Reyna realized, though she didn't know how she knew that. Even so, that didn't seem right. Something told her this guy couldn't be a faun, despite what she saw in front of her. Why did amnesia have to make everything so confusing?

The faun- or not a faun, at this point Reyna didn't even know- leaped over the railing, right into the wall hooves first. He scaled the cliff with agility that should've been impossible. He managed to dodge winds and use the tiniest footholds to make his way towards the teen.

"Isn't that cute!" Dylan turned toward Reyna, almost hungrily. "Now it's your turn!"

Reyna's instincts kicked in. She dodged a gust of wind aimed at her, and made her way behind Dylan. She desperately threw the club at the back of his head. She managed to time it so he didn't expect it, and it worked. It hit it's mark before he could turn around fully, and Dylan stumbled so hard he fell over.

In the corner of her vision, Reyna could see Piper run to where the club had fallen. Reyna knew she needed to hold Dylan's attention long enough for her to attack from behind.

Dylan rose unsteadily, something golden trickling from his forehead. Reyna realized that it was blood, which didn't make sense. Then again, it wasn't the weirdest thing she'd seen today.

"Ugh, nice try." His psychotic smile was gone, replaced with a scowl. He aimed a glare at Reyna. "But you'll have to do better."

Reyna began to make her way towards the crazed boy, but stopped to keep her balance when the skywalk shuddered violently. Hairline fractures appeared in the glass, which was the only thing that kept them all from plummeting into the canyon. Inside the museum, kids stopped pounding on the door in favor of backing away.

Dylan's body dissolved into smoke, like he'd suddenly turned to swirling dust. His face stayed the same, which was probably more disturbing than the rest of him. He became a swirling cloud of black smoke, his eyes standing out like lighting against a storm cloud.

Suddenly the word for this creature came into Reyna's mind. "A  _ ventus _ ." she said aloud. "You're a storm spirit."

Dylan gave off a crazed laugh, which definitely wasn't human. "I'm glad I waited, demigod."

Reyna got another surge of what was supposed to be recognition at the word  _ demigod _ .

"Leo and Piper I've known about for weeks." the  _ ventus _ continued. "Could've killed them at any time. But my mistress said a third was coming- someone special. She'll reward me greatly for your death!"

More funnel clouds appeared on either side of the Dylan, and formed into two more  _ venti _ .

Piper's face was pale, and she gripped the club hard. She gave Reyna a determined look, and Reyna decided to stick to her earlier plan.

Before she could move, Dylan raised his hand and sent bolts of lightning at Reyna. She just barely managed to dodge it in time. Her fair frizzed a little from the static. Reyna grabbed the railing to keep from falling into the canyon below.

She heard a collision, and turned to see Piper get blown towards the edge where the skywalk met the canyon. The tree branch club was on the floor by Dylan's feet. Reyna noticed that one  _ ventus _ had disappeared.

"Uh. You little..." Dylan didn't get to finish before Coach Hedge leaped back out of the canyon. He dumped Leo onto the ground and turned to the  _ venti _ on the skywalk.

"Spirits, fear me!" he bellowed, flexing his short arms. "Give me your best, I like a challenge!"

Leo groaned and shakily got up. "Yo, Coach Supergoat," he said, breathing heavily, "whatever you are- I just fell down the freaking Grand Canyon! Stop asking for a challenge!"

Dylan and the other  _ ventus _ hissed. Still, he failed to hide his fear. "You have no idea how many enemies you've awakened, half-bloods. My mistress will destroy  _ all _ demigods. This war you  _ cannot  _ win."

War? Reyna got the feeling they'd managed to get into  _ much _ more than a freak storm-creature attack.

Above them, the storm exploded with the force of a hurricane. The cracks in the skywalk grew larger, and Reyna nearly lost her balance. If they didn't get off the skywalk soon, there would be nothing between them and the long drop.

"Get off the skywalk!" Reyna shouted to Piper. "Help the coach and Leo, I'll handle them!" It was a crazy idea, there was no way she'd be able to keep two storm spirits away and make it off before the glass platform failed, but she had to try.

A hold opened in the clouds- a swirling vortex of black and silver.

"The mistress calls me back!" Dylan shouted with glee. "And you, demigod, will come with me!"

He lunged at Reyna, who rolled away just before he made it to her. She then tackled the monster before he could try again. It was made of smoke, but Reyna managed to grab it like it was solid. Both of them fell onto the skywalk. The other spirit let loose a torrent that knocked the others- Leo and the coach- away from them.

Dylan used the wind to shove Reyna away. She flew right into the railing, and didn't have time to catch herself before falling right over.

Reyna somehow managed to grab the railing as she fell. She found herself dangling by one arm over the expanse of the Grand Canyon. Wind grabbed her braid which partially blocked her view, and her right shoe had fallen off. She gripped the railing with all of her strength and reached up with the other arm to grab it. She managed to hold on with both hands.

Dylan loomed over with his evil smile, but before he could do anything he disappeared from her view. Reyna realized that Piper had not, in fact, gone off the skywalk. She'd grabbed the club from the glass floor and was holding off the  _ ventus _ . Reyna had to admit, that girl was brave.

Reyna hauled herself up, and collapsed back onto the skywalk. It took a few moments for her to catch her breath, then she got back up. They weren't going to get rid of her that easily.

Reyna blinked in surprise. Apparently the fight had finished without her. Piper threw the club at the final  _ ventus _ , which dissipated into smoke before it could reach him. Dylan and Coach Hedge were nowhere to be seen, and Leo still lay dazed on the ground.

Reyna ran off the skywalk to join them. Piper knelt next to Leo, who was just starting to regain full consciousness.

"Stupid... ugly... goat," he muttered.

"What happened?" Reyna asked. "Where's Coach Hedge?"

Piper shook her head. "I'm not sure. I think Dylan took him while I was fighting the other one."

Leo groaned. "He went into the sky. Did he really just save my life?"

"Yeah, he did." Piper turned towards Reyna. "Those things- what did you call them?"

" _ Venti _ ," she said. "They're storm spirits."

"Okay. You acted like... you've met them before."

"I think I have." Reyna said uncertainly.

"Who  _ are _ you?"

Reyna met Piper's eyes, which couldn't seem to decide what color they wanted to be. "That," she said, "is a good question. One that I don't have the answer to."

Piper didn't look satisfied with that answer, so Reyna explained to the two of them how she'd woken up on the school bus with no memory.

Piper frowned when she finished. "But that doesn't make sense, you started at the Wilderness School this semester. We all know you."

"Really?" Reyna remembered what the coach had said earlier.  _ "Never seen you before today. You've got a way with the Mist." _

"Of course." Leo said, propping himself up into a sitting position.

"How much do you really know about me, then?"

Leo frowned. "Well, you've always been kind of mysterious, no offense. No one really knows much about you."

"But if I've been in your guys' class, you must know something." Reyna encouraged. "Where am I from? What did I do to get enrolled there? What's... what's my last name?"

Neither Piper or Leo spoke, confirming Reyna's words.

"I'm not from here. And... I'm not supposed to be here."

"Then why are you here? And why would we have these memories of you if you weren't really there?" Piper asked.

"I don't know."

"Okay, this is so weird." Leo said. "Maybe I hit my head or something... yeah, that must be it. I- ohhh-kay yup that's it because now I'm seeing flying horses."

Maybe Leo  _ had _ hit his head too hard, Reyna thought. Then she looked up, and saw he was right.

"Um, no." Piper said. "I see them too."

Heading towards them were three winged horses. Literally,  _ winged horses _ , just galloping in the air. They pulled a brightly painted chariot behind them.

"Hedge said an extraction squad was coming for us." Reyna recalled. "Maybe that's them?"

Leo struggled to his feet. "Sounds painful."

"And where are they extracting us  _ to _ ?" Piper asked.

"I don't know." Reyna was getting pretty tired of not knowing.

Soon the chariot landed not far from them. Two teenagers stood in the chariot, both wearing orange T-shirts and jeans, and shields tossed over their backs. One was a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. The other was a dark-haired guy who looked maybe a little older than Reyna.

The dark-haired guy got off the chariot as soon as it hit the ground and unsheathed a sword- though Reyna didn't see a sheath so she didn't know where it'd come from. He ran towards the group while the bulky guy reigned in the horses.

When he approached, he scanned the three of them and frowned. "Where is she?" he demanded.

"Where is who?" Piper asked him. "Who are you?"

The guy shook his head. "No, this doesn't make sense. She was supposed to be here! She told me- just goes to show you can't trust-"

"Percy," the bald guy interrupted, then pointed at Reyna's feet. "Check it out.

Reyna had forgotten she'd lost a shoe while dangling off the skywalk. Why the bald guy had decided to point it out, she had no idea.

"The girl with one shoe." he told the dark-haired guy, apparently called Percy.

"No, no, no!" He said angrily. Then he glared at the sky. "Where is she? What have you done with her?!"

"We should go." the bulky guy encouraged.

Percy clenched his fist. "Fine." he snapped. "But I'm not done." He turned his attention back to the group, pointedly not looking at Reyna. "You can tell us what happened on the way to camp. Where's your protector?"

"Do you mean Coach Hedge?” Leo asked. “ Because he... kind of went up into the sky."

Percy just scowled and marched toward the chariot.

"What's up with this dude?" Leo asked. "He acts like we just insulted his girlfriend."

The other guy hesitated. "Percy's okay. You've gotta cut him some slack. He had a vision telling him to come here and find a girl with one shoe, that in doing so he'd find the answer to his problem. He's been looking for one of our campers for three days, and he really hoped that meant he'd find her."

"Who is it?" Reyna inquired.

"His girlfriend, actually. A half-blood named Annabeth Chase."


	2. Chapter Two - Leo

After a morning of storm spirits, goat men, and riding on a flying chariot, then crash-landing in a lake in the middle of a camp for half-gods, Leo should've been  losing his mind. Either he’d hit his head really hard, or this was an oddly realistic dream.

Whatever it was, it was  _ awesome _ .

After arriving at Camp Half-Blood, Leo was almost immediately claimed by a father he’d never even known (thanks, Hephestus). He’d thought he’d seen his old psycho babysitter from many years ago. After that he met his cabinmates, found out about an awesome giant bronze dragon they planned to  _ destroy _ , and summoned an ability he hadn’t used in a long time.

Now after dinner he sat in an amphitheater facing a stone-lined fire pit surrounded with kids (Leo estimated about sixty), from as young as his new brother Harley to about college age. They sat in clusters under various banners, like how Leo and the rest of the cabin sat under a banner of a fiery hammer, like the one that’d claimed him as a child of Hephestus. The entire camp was singing some song about how their Grandma got dressed for war, including gestures for the individual pieces of armor. It was weird, but also super fun. A campfire in the middle grew higher with the campers’ energy, and turned more from red to gold.

When the song ended with rowdy applause, a centaur ( _ a freaking centaur! _ ) trotted up to the front, brandishing a spear impaled with toasted marshmallows.

“Very nice!” he complimented, “And a special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I’m happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment I promise we’ll get to the s’mores, but first-”

“What about capture the flag?” somebody yelled. Grumbling broke out among some kids in armor, sitting under a red banner with the emblem of a boar’s head.

“Yes,” Chiron said. “I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games.”

“And kill people!” one of them shouted.

“However,” the centaur continued, “until the dragon is brought under control, that won’t be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?”

He turned to Leo’s group. Leo noticed Piper, sitting over by a curly red-haired girl, looking over his way, then shot her with a wink and finger gun. The two of them had become good friends back at the Wilderness School, though Leo never understood Piper’s need to confirm that she’d never actually  _ done _ what had sent her to the school. She claimed she never stole that BMW, but that the dealer had let her borrow it. He’d never bought the story.

Beside him one of the other kids, Nyssa, stood uncomfortably. “We’re working on it.” she said simply.

More grumbling.

“How, Nyssa?” an Ares kid demanded.

“Really hard.” The girl then sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. Chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones-  _ bang, bang, bang _ \- and the campers fell silent.

“We will have to be patient,” Chiron said. “In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss.”

“Annabeth?” someone asked. The fire dimmed even further, though Leo could tell even without the mood flames that the crowd was anxious.

Chiron gestured to Percy. He took a deep breath and stood.

“I didn’t find her.” he said hesitantly. “She wasn’t at the Grand Canyon like Hera lied- like I thought. But I’m not giving up, and there are teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico, the hunters of Artemis- everyone is looking. We  _ will _ find her. But, that’s not what Chiron was talking about. He’s talking about a different quest.”

“It’s the Great Prophecy, isn’t it?” a girl called out.

Everyone turned. The voice had come from a group in the back, sitting under a rose-colored banner with a dove emblem. They’d been chatting among themselves and not paying much attention until their leader stood up. Leo recognized her from when they’d crashed into the lake: Drew.

Everyone else looked surprised. Apparently Drew didn’t address the crowd very often.

“Drew,” Chron asked, “care to explain what you mean?”

“Well,  _ come on _ ,” she spread her hands like it should be obvious. “Olympus is closed. Annabeth’s disappeared. Hera sent Percy a vision and he came back with three new demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?”

For some reason, all of the campers looked over towards the redhead sitting next to Piper, who whispered something to the former before seeming to realize where everyone’s gaze was.

“Well?” Drew called down. “You’re the oracle. Has it started or not?”

All this talk about great prophecies and oracles was seriously confusing Leo.

The girl stepped forward and addressed the camp.

“Yes,” she said. “The Great Prophecy has begun.”

Pandemonium broke out.

Leo and Piper met eyes. From her look, she also had no idea what these people were talking about.

When the talking finally subsided, the oracle took another step toward the audience, and fifty-plus demigods leaned away from her, as if one skinny redhead was more intimidating than all of them put together. Leo thought absentmindedly who her godly parent must be that everyone seemed so scared of her. Maybe she was the kid of some oracle god?

“For those of you who have not heard it,” she said, “the Great Prophecy was my first prediction. It arrived in August. It goes like this:

_ “Seven half-bloods shall answer the call, _

_ To storm or fire the world must fall. _

_ An oath to keep with a final breath, _

_ And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.” _

The camp went quiet at those words, so quiet in fact, that Leo quickly picked up someone else’s voice.

All campers turned toward someone whispering under her breath. She looked down, apparently unaware of the attention on her.

She said it quietly enough that Leo couldn’t make out what she was saying. Even the people sitting near her had confused looks on their faces.

When she finished, the girl looked up to realize everyone was looking at her. “What is it?” she asked aloud.

“Reyna, is there something you’d like to share?” Chiron asked.

Reyna paused, then responded with, “No, thank you.”

“She just spoke Latin!” a kid near her said in surprise.

“It’s nothing.” she said. Somehow her voice left no room for discussion.

Back at the Wilderness School, Reyna had- well, Leo thought she’d been, since apparently she never actually went there- always been the quiet one. Not exactly shy, in fact she had an air of confidence and dignity, but mysterious. Leo wondered if that was how she actually was in reality. She hadn’t quite seemed that way back at the Grand Canyon.

An uneasy silence settled on the group. “Anyway,” the oracle continued, just as a drowsy voice in the crowd called out,

“I’m here! Oh… were you calling roll?”

“Go back to sleep, Clovis.” someone yelled, causing several people to laugh. Leo didn’t get the joke, but he wished he did.

“Anyway,” the oracle said again, “we don’t know what the Great Prophecy means. We don’t know what challenge the demigods will face but since the  _ first _ Great Prophecy predicted the Titan War, we can guess the  _ second _ Great Prophecy will predict something at least that bad.”

“Or worse.” chiron murmured.

Maybe he didn’t mean everyone to overhear, but they did. The campfire immediately turned to a dark purple.

“What we  _ do _ know, is that the first phase has begun.” the redhead continued, still calm despite having been interrupted several times. “A major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve it. Hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken.”

Shocked silence. Then sixty demigods started talking all at once.

“Well that doesn’t sound good.” Leo said.

“It isn’t.” Nyssa agreed.

Chiron pounded his hoof again but it took some time for the campers to quiet down.

The oracle- Leo realized he still didn’t know her name- told them about the incident of the Grand Canyon skywalk. How Gleeson Hedge had sacrificed himself when the storm spirits attacked, and the spirits had warned it was only the beginning. They apparently served some great mistress who would destroy all demigods.

Then she told them about Piper passing out in Hera’s cabin. Leo tried to make eye contact with Piper to silently ask if she was okay, but she was busy (not very subtly though it was obvious she was trying) glaring at Drew pantomiming a faint, and her friends who were giggling.

Finally the oracle told them about Reyna having a vision in the living room of the Big House. The message was creepy enough:  _ You have until sunset on the solstice, Reyna. Four short days. Do not fail me. _

“Reyna,” the oracle asked. “Um… do you remember your last name?”

“I do not.” the girl in question admitted.

“We’ll just call you Reyna, then. It’s clear Hera herself has issued you a quest.”

She paused, as if giving Reyna a chance to protest her destiny. Everyone’s eyes were on her; there was so much pressure. Leo figured it was probably pretty stressful in her situation. Yet she stood up straight, determined. “I agree.” she said with confidence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things to clear up any confusion that may occur from this chapter:
> 
> So some of you will notice that the writing style has changed some this chapter, including skimming over several events. This is because last chapter was basically going to be similar to the original but different because it's from Reyna's POV, while here most of what happens to Leo at camp until a point isn't affected by who appeared on the school bus. I couldn't find a way his experience up until the campfire would change in this AU, so I figured you guys wouldn't want to read an exact copy of the original for half the chapter. This is also because when more divergence comes in, I'll be leaning less on Rick Riordan's style of writing to tell the story and use my style instead. So if you guys see a major change in the way the story is being told, that's why. 
> 
> Also this chapter was a lot shorter than the first one. The previous chapter being as long as it was was actually not as normal, but since most of it was really similar to the original, it was fairly easy to write so therefore much longer.
> 
> And yes, I did switch Chapter Two to Leo's perspective rather than Piper's, but don't worry you'll get hers soon. :)
> 
> Also sorry this took forever to update.


	3. Chapter Three - Piper

Piper didn’t know Reyna very well, but already she’d gained Piper’s respect.

At the Grand Canyon, she’d done some serious damage to those storm spirits, and now she was shouldering the responsibility of a quest from a goddess. All this while apparently not knowing who she was. And the way she seemed to demand respect, it was impressive.

“You must save Hera to prevent a great evil,” the oracle continued. Piper had met her before the campfire, a mortal named Rachel Elizabeth Dare. “Some sort of king from rising. For reasons we don’t yet understand, it must happen by the winter solstice, only four days from now.”

“The same day as the winter solstice, the time of greatest darkness.” Chiron added. “It is a day when evil magic is strong. It is a day when things… stir.”

The way he said it, stirring sounded absolutely sinister- like it should be a first-degree felony, not something you did to cookie dough.

“In any case,” Chiron continued, “I agree with Rachel. Reyna will lead a quest to save Hera.”

“This means she will need her own prophecy.”

Rachel closed her eyes and swooned. Two campers rushed forward and caught her. A third ran to the side of the amphitheater and grabbed a bronze three-legged stool, like they’d been trained for this duty. They eased Rachel onto the stool in front of the hearth. Green mist started swirling around Rachel’s feet. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing. Emerald smoke issued from her mouth. The voice that came out was raspy and ancient- the sound a snake would make if it could talk.

_ Child of war, beware the earth _

_ The giant’s revenge the seven shall birth _

_ The past regained through spell and blood _

_ And cage broken by forge and dove _

On the last word, Rachel collapsed, but her helpers were waiting to catch her. They carried her away from the hearth and laid her in the corner to rest.

“Is that normal?” Piper asked. Then she realized she’d spoken into the silence, and everyone was looking at her. “I mean, does she spew green smoke a lot?”

“Gods, you’re dense!” Drew sneered. “She just issued a prophecy, Jason’s prophecy to save Hera! Why don’t you just get with the program?”

“Drew, that was unnecessary.” Chiron chastised. “Piper has only been here less than a day, she has a right to ask questions more experienced campers know the answer to. And it is the duty of the campers to answer those questions.” He then turned to Piper. “That is the nature of the Oracle of Delphi, as strange and- unsettling- as it may be. As for the contents of the prophecy,” he addressed the whole camp this time, “It does raise some questions, as all prophecies do. Are there any more concerns that are to be raised?”

“Yeah!” Someone called out, from under the same flag Piper and Reyna sat under, that of Hermes and unclaimed campers. “She hasn’t been claimed! How can she lead a mission of this much importance if we don’t know who her godly parent is?”

This raised more murmuring around the campfire.

“Maybe it’s Ares! The prophecy said ‘child of war’.”

“Or maybe Athena!”

“If it’s one of them why haven’t they said so?”

For the first time, Piper noticed what seemed like Reyna’s confidence faltering. She didn’t speak up to defend herself like Piper was certain she would’ve.

Piper decided to step in. “So what?” she said aloud. Most of the talking stopped, but clearly not everyone was listening. She raised her voice to be louder with her next words. “Clearly, Reyna was chosen to save Hera. Does her being unclaimed really change that? She was given this quest and prophecy, should we really turn our back on all that just because we don’t know who her parent is?”

About halfway through her small speech, the camp went completely silent. Everyone was staring at Piper in awe, even after she finished.

“What?” she asked, raising her hands in a questioning manner. That when she noticed. Was she glowing… pink?

Piper looked down at herself, and yelped. What in the name of every god on Olympus was she  _ wearing _ ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to finish, the prophecy and my personal like were giving me some trouble. Also this one is shorter than I'd hoped, so sorry about that. I know the prophecy here is still pretty similar to the original, but it's still valid in this story.  
> Also we're finally starting to get some divergence in this! :D  
> Thank you for reading!


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